The Pickens sentinel. [volume] (Pickens, S.C.) 1871-1903, 1887-01-27
WHERE IT Is COLDEST.
THE SORT OF WEATHER, THEY HAVE,
IN SIBERIA.

|
Lieutenant w. Fl. Schcutze of th
navy, who was sent to the Lena Delta il
Northwestern Siberia to dclivo. to tn,
natives gifts from tho government Of til,
United States to repay them for the ait
they rendered him in his search for tn,
missing members of the Jeanette party
says i'll his report that the town O.
Neroyansk, Siberia, is tho coolest in
habitcd spot i'll tho world. Tho tEor
momctcr stood at Sc below zero when he
was there, and he says it seldom goes
above 80 below. I asked him tho Other
day what the people did who lived a
this biissful spot, what they had to eat
and how they liked it.
''Why," he replied, "they think it is
u pretty good sort of climatic. Homo,
Sweet Home, is the song all the world
over, and if the Vcroyansl1ers should
como hero they would wonder what pco-
pie dld where it is SO informally hot.
They would smother i'll this climate and
pine for Il stiff northwcstcrly Arctic gale.
1t IS wonderful the amount Of cold
human flesh can endure. The natives of
Ilcrra del Fucgo go stark naked the
year round, and i'll their country it
freezes every night. 1t is much colder
IN inc Lena Delta, yet the people mum
age to keep comfortable, and more die
OF smallpox and scurvy than from the
ELECTS of the intense cold. You seldom
hear OF any one freezing to death, and
then it is those only who expose them
selves lmprudcntly who die in that way
More people arc frozen to death in the
| United States than in Siberia"
warm?"
"Mcl!, n the first place the Yaluts
arc an enduring race, and arc born in
that climate. Then they dress in furs,
and have learned from their ancestors or
from their own experience how to keep
warm. Their houses are built of logs,
! smcarcd over on the outside and inside
with manure and mud. In each cabin
is large fireplace, which is used for
both heating and cooking. There is
seldom more than one room in these
cabins, and usually the owners cattle, if
he has any, occupy one end Of the room
III which he lives, being tied, or pre-
vented from trampliDg on the babies by
Oar. The houses are commonly very
comfortable, but are awfully dirty, and
smell-thcre is no word to describe it.
Often, until l got used to it, [ would
rather lie down in the snow outside, with
the thermometer 80 below zero, than
sleep III ono of these huts. But you've
no idea what Il man can stand when he
has to-"
"Hovc they windows in their houses?''
eyes; ice windows. They use ice as
we use glass. A clear piece is selected,
about five or six inches thick, mortiscd
IN the window opening in blocks two
1cet, and sometimes as largo as four feet
square, and with water is made solid.
Ihe water is rs good as putty. When
the window becomes dirty they Scrnpo it
OIL with knife, and when it has been
soraped thin, they substitute n new
! pane"
| doesn't the window ever mclt?"
"Bless you, no; it is freezing cold that
far from the fire. If tic room ever got
warm enough to melt tho ice tho Yakut
couldn't live in it, and would have to 90
out doors to cool or At night the fire
IS allowed to go out, as they have to
cconomiHc in fuel Al they have is
driftwood, gathered on tho banks of the
Lena River III the suImcr time"
GLOW do they sleep? Do they undress
when they go to bCd?'
"Always. They strip to their shirts
which are made of thick sort of Rus
sian cloth rs heavy as our canvas. The
men and women wear the SANE, kind Of
garments, and never have moro than one
ut time. ! took up lot Of thick fan
mel I0r them, enough to last the rest OF
their lives, and it Will be great deal
moro comfortable than the native stuff,
although thoy don't like it ut first When
they undrcss they get into hunks built
III the side of the houSe-somctimcs q
man, his wife and all his children in the
same bunk. They have reindeer skins
under and over them. and curtains Of
the same hanging before the hunks. The
last man or woman to uldross hangs all
the clothing OF the rest outdoors over q
pole that is kept for the purpose"
"What is that for?"
'Io freeze the lice. Thoy couldn't
live if they didn't do it, and It has be-
come n national custom. The. hcc get
into the fur, and that is the only way to
got them ont. BY hanging their clothes
over the pole cvory night they can keep
reasonably free from them, but the fur
fills up again the next day"
"Do they ever bathe%"
"NeVer iii their lives; they haven't
any word for bathing in their language,
and the impossibility of kocping clean is
one of the greatest h1rdships Of Arctic
life"
"What ito they cat?"
'kcindccr meat, bccf-thcy have
COWS, quccr-loolling animals, about half
as large as ours, with hummock on
their backs like camcl-fsh, lrQad
made of black rye NoUv, sea, ana an i'm
ported food made of chopped beef rolled
mo balls about the size of q marble,
and covered with dough. These they
pound up and make into soup. Then
there is n wood that is worry nutrisiou as
W hen it is ground up end boiled. Mixed
with reirdpor meat it makes good
soup. They often eat their fish raw
OF course they freeze solid as soon as
they arc taken out Of tho water, and the
native, particularly if 10 is on the road,
cuts them oN III 8taTiugs, as thin as our
Clipped beef, and eats thom raw. They
are palatable, and | have lived for DAYS
ut time on them, with q cup of tCo
made over an alcohol lon,, by ,,,,, ,F